1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a system and process for the production of a print product individualized for a customer, based on a customer individual profile of interest.
2. Prior Art
In the 1990s, numerous electronic newspapers and journals (e.g. HeadsUp, iNews) as well as so-called online clipping services (selection of press releases) emerged, allowing the customer to select among a large number of categories of topics and to compose his own individual journal or newspaper. Hereby, the individualized online edition can be transmitted either via fax/telecopy to a fax receiver or via the Internet to the electronic mail box of the customer. Also popular is the query/display of dynamically individualized web pages.
These electronic forms of newspapers and journals have different advantages. Firstly, the electronic forms offer immediacy, which is solely limited by the constraint of editorial effort to update and revise news. Secondly, the electronic forms offer easy-to-use access to further information sources e.g. by so-called hyperlinks. Moreover, the customer easily can vary the scope of coverage of the information research, while being online and dialoging with the system. Finally, these online-journals and newspapers can make use of a wide range of data types; e.g. moving images or animation.
However, major disadvantages of such electronic media exist. The customer has to possess modern hardware and software: e.g. a Personal Computer, a modem, and interface software. The hardware and software require operating know-how from the customer. Furthermore, he has to take the time for the online access and the online selection. Moreover, generating hard copies on desktop printers is sometimes complicated, expensive, and time consuming.
Hitherto, the composition of an online newspaper or journal is limited by online sessions of the customer and the specific printing format of the available desktop printer. The printed product in this case is neither in format nor in quality comparable to the traditional appearance of a mass-printed product, i.e. a newspaper.
From WO 00/ 76204 A1, a document delivery system is taught that includes printing a document automatically. The document is transmitted to the printing device via the Internet according to a given print work flow. Advertisements can be inserted into the document according to the user profile. A disadvantage of the system is that a feedback mechanism allowing the customer to modify the interest profile is not designed and not provided. Moreover, the layout of the document is not generated automatically.
Furthermore, from GB 2 357 877 A, a process for the automatic formatting of a computer-generated document is known. Hereby, it is disadvantageous, that the selection of documents is not generated at optimal utilization of the available space of the printing page (especially to fill blank spaces) and that the layout designs from documents different in content, form, and design (e.g. pictures, articles, and combinations of any kind of pictures and articles) does not take place.
The patent U.S. Pat. No. 5,948,061 (Merriman et al.) describes targeted advertisement via communication networks such as the Internet. The selection of the advertisement is based on the access of a customer to a web page, which is connected with an advertisement process and not (as shown in the present process) by the selection of a topic category.
The described system in Merriman et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 5,948,061) does not meet the typical requirements of an advertisement for a mass-produced printing product. According to Merriman et al., the printing template determines the mix of information and advertisement content. Moreover, there are technical restrictions concerning the design of the layout. Furthermore, the advertisement as well as the feedbacks of the customer take place in the system described in Merriman et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 5,948,061) within a TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) based network.
Compared to the online newspapers and online journals there are arguments in favor of the traditional mass-printed product. Firstly, a mass-printed product like a classic newspaper or journal is congenial to traditional reading habits. Parts of the newspaper may be marked or cut out, the optical resolution and print quality are standardized and the format and folding is typical for a newspaper or journal. Secondly, there is no need for any computer software or hardware and the print product can be taken to any place without any need for a printing device. Moreover, there is no specific operating knowledge required.
It is well known that the revenue model of the classic newspaper or journal is based on the sales price and mostly to a major share on advertisement. Concerning the relation of advertisement to editorial information (brief: “information”) at which various newspapers and journals are offered, the ratio of advertisement is between 0% (e.g. for some scientific journals) and 100% (e.g. free of charge, distributed advertisement journals). Customers choose by subscription, at the newsstand, or by reception of a free-of charge delivered newspaper for a non-individualized, pre-configurated product with advertisements relating to the information, without having the possibility at this classic products to take direct influence on content, design and price.
Advertisements in newspapers and journals are distributed in the same way to all readers. There is no selection of target customers or prospects, which leads to the typically low response rate of the advertisement. Merely the knowledge on the positioning of a newspaper respectively a journal in the media market and on the preferences of the average reader of the respective newspaper or journal limits the risk of untargeted advertisement. Approaches in the direction of individualization are limited to regionally adapted editions (Sectioning) and reader group specific inserts. Thereby the detection of the potentially quickly changing customer perceptions and preferences is difficult and cost-intensive.
The customization of print products is shown, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,114,291 (Hefty) and 5,213,461 (Klisher). These patents describe different, computer based layout methods, which serve to produce a single customer individual print product (e.g. a children's book). Non-variable text modules and variable text modules, which can be varied individually, are used.
Chanenson et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 5,765,874) extend customer individualization to a mass production process by use of pre-printed paper documents with blank space for individual text elements.
None of these patents includes an automatic selection from a large group of different and diverse text documents and a free combination of these documents to a final layout. This is required when customers want to choose from various documents, these documents being arranged according to their preferences and combined in a single document.
An Internet based design system for the customer individual mass production (mass customization) of goods is described in patent WO 00/60513 (Moritz). The shown system is preferably applied in the production of hats. The customers become designers of their own products and select via Internet among various design features. The system displays the designed object and generates a specific processing instruction for the production process.
Another technology for customer individual mass production is specified in U.S. Pat. No. 6,085,165 (Ulwick), which refers to the mass customization of electronic devices, e.g. portable radios or cardiac pacemakers. The customer (or specially authorized persons, e.g. physicians) decides personally on the preferred adaptation of the electronic device.
None of these examples relates to print media or to the special requirements for the customer individual mass production of print products.
In the above-mentioned patents, the decision of the customer are one-time decisions, or e.g. in the case of the cardiac pacemaker related to the after production or after sales variability of the technical product. The mentioned systems are not able to learn from customer behavior related to a sequence of purchase decisions. In the case of a print product, it is obvious that there is after-production/after-sales no content variability of the purchased product itself. Only in the time between the editions, readers have the possibility to contact the producer of the print product and take influence on the design of the product.
The possible variability of contents is big and the wide range of potential content elements (e.g. different topics, different sources) within a rubric like “sports” can be subject to permanent change e.g. a daily adaptation. Moreover, the above-mentioned patents don't offer options to make a selection concerning the prices respectively the offered information content in dependency of a variable amount for payment.
The patent U.S. Pat. No. 6,279,013 describes an interactive newspaper. The reader has the possibility e.g. to notify the main focus of interest by ticking certain fields on the newspaper. Afterwards the newspaper is scanned to read the ticked fields. The hereby-transmitted information serves to modify the interest profile of the reader. In the case of the aforementioned interactive newspaper, it is disadvantageous that the user cannot decide on the mixing ratio of advertisement to information. The single newspaper articles are printed in a given layout-pattern without possibilities for variance.
It is known to the expert in the field that costs for a traditional offset printed newspaper are mainly occurring in the edition, the layout and production of a printing plate, the set-up of the printing process, the raw material (paper, ink) and the logistics. The traditional offset printing process itself can be regarded due to the high automation and the “economies of scales” in case of higher number editions as minor cost driver.
Traditional offset print for small editions or to the extreme for an edition of lot size 1 cannot be realized in an economically reasonable way.
Indeed, the digital print technology emerging in recent years has, among other things, cut costs significantly for layout, set up, and the print itself and allows more and more editions with lot size 1. It is the overriding goal of the present invention to provide a partially or completely mass customized print product, which is in its principal embodiment congenial to traditional reading habits and also takes into account the customer's choice concerning price and content.